Shaunessy, E., Suldo, S. M., Hardesty, R. B., & Shaffer, E. J. (2006). School functioning and psychological well-being of International Baccalaureate and general education students: A preliminary examination. The Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, 17(2), 76-89.
The study aimed to explore the school and psychosocial functioning of 33 gifted and 89 high-achieving students enrolled in the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme compared to that of 176 general education students in the same school, a public high school located in a rural county in the southeastern United States. IB students who were not identified as gifted were categorized as high-achieving learners. The high school offered both an IB high school and a general education high school in a single school building, with each program having its own faculty and staff. The study tested the overall effect of group membership (IB-gifted, IB-high-achieving, or general education) on academic functioning, life satisfaction, and psychopathology.
IB classes allow students to learn advanced content and skills at an age or grade earlier than expected, making them a form of acceleration. IB students tend to be highly self-motivated and meet or exceed school expectations, usually scoring above the 90th percentile on achievement tests.
Much of the information was collected through a survey. Teachers in both parts of the high school sent home letters regarding the study. Students who returned signed parent consent forms then completed questionnaires in groups of fifty to one hundred.
Indicators of adolescent functioning were organized in the following three areas: academic functioning, emotional distress, and psychological well-being. To assess academic functioning, the authors of the study use the School Climate Scale (SCS) and the Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for Children (SEQ-C). Indicators of academic function were also ascertained from archival school records (GPA, attendance, and discipline referrals during the semester). To assess psychological well-being, the Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale, Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale, and The Youth Self-Report of the Child Behavior Checklist were administered.
In four of six aspects of school climate, students in the IB program reported more positive perceptions of the crucial aspects of school climate than did their peers in the general education program. GPA, academic self-efficacy, attendance, and discipline referrals were significantly affected by group membership, with the strongest effect on GPA. Satisfaction with friends, self, school, living environment, and family were also significantly affected by group membership. In particular, gifted students in IB classes reported much higher levels of satisfaction with their friendships than their peers in general education. Psychopathology and problematic peer relations were significantly altered by group membership, with students in general education exhibiting more aggression and rule-breaking behaviors than either of other groups.
While the benefits of the IB program appear to include superior social functioning and psychological wellness, it is difficult to determine whether these benefits were a byproduct of the well-planned IB program or a result of other factors (preexisting student characteristics, teacher expectations, etc.). The study lacks non-accelerated gifted students as a control, and so has little to say about the effects of not accelerating a gifted student. The study also is not necessarily generalizeable to other IB school programs or other advanced curriculum because of its limited and specific scope. More studies are necessary to better understand the effects of IB and other advanced curriculum on gifted and high-achieving students. Other limitations of the current study include the relatively small size of the gifted sample, the low rate of participation from the general education students, and the cross-sectional design.
The authors suggest that, in addition to the training the IB program already provides in content-area test preparation and related exams, the program should provide training on the affective needs of gifted and high-ability students. The study’s authors conclude that the match between the academic demands of the IB program and the IB students’ abilities may have facilitated psychological wellness. Because students participating in an IB program showed similar or superior levels of psychosocial adjustment in comparison to general education peers, the IB program appears well-suited for gifted students and possibly all students with high achievement needs and academic values.